Best AI for Gladly: Top tools to enhance customer service in 2026

Gladly has built a reputation as a people-centered customer service platform. Instead of treating support as a series of disconnected tickets, it organizes everything around lifelong customer conversations. That approach has won over brands like Nordstrom and Crate & Barrel.

But there's a catch: Gladly's native AI, called Sidekick, has limitations. It only supports English. It can't handle routing or rules logic. And perhaps most importantly, using it means committing fully to the Gladly ecosystem (a significant migration if you're already using another help desk).

So what are your options if you want AI that works with Gladly, or a flexible alternative that gives you more control? Here are the best AI tools for Gladly in 2026, including options that integrate directly and alternatives worth considering.

What to look for in AI for Gladly

Before diving into specific tools, let's establish what matters when evaluating AI for your support team.

Autonomous resolution capabilities. The best AI doesn't just draft replies for agents. It actually resolves tickets end-to-end, handling refunds, order lookups, and common questions without human intervention.

Integration flexibility. Some tools require you to migrate everything to their platform. Others plug into your existing help desk. Consider whether you want to keep your current setup or start fresh.

E-commerce actions. If you run an online store, your AI should connect to Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce to process refunds, check orders, and generate discount codes.

Multilingual support. English-only AI won't cut it if you have global customers. Look for tools that handle 80+ languages natively.

Setup speed. Some AI tools take weeks to configure. Others learn from your existing tickets and go live in days or even minutes.

Pricing transparency. Enterprise software often hides pricing behind "contact sales." If you need to know costs upfront, prioritize tools with public pricing.

Best AI for Gladly: Comparison at a glance

The best AI tools for Gladly

1. eesel AI

If you want AI that learns your business without a massive implementation project, eesel AI is worth a look. Rather than treating AI as software you configure, we designed it as a teammate you hire and level up over time.

Here's how it works. You connect eesel AI to your help desk (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Gorgias, and others). It immediately reads your past tickets, help center articles, macros, and any connected documentation from Confluence, Google Docs, or Notion. Within minutes, it understands your brand voice, common issues, and how your team typically responds.

You can deploy eesel AI in three modes:

• AI Agent handles tickets autonomously, resolving up to 81% of inquiries in mature deployments
• AI Copilot drafts replies for your agents to review and send
• AI Triage tags, routes, merges, and closes tickets automatically

What sets eesel AI apart is the progressive rollout approach. You don't flip a switch and hope for the best. Instead, you start with eesel drafting replies for review. Once you see it performing well, you expand its scope to handle specific ticket types directly. Eventually, it can manage full frontline support while escalating only the edge cases you define.

Before going live, you can run simulations on thousands of past tickets to see exactly how eesel AI would respond. Measure resolution rates, identify gaps, tune prompts. This lets you verify quality before customers ever interact with the AI.

Pricing:

See full details on our pricing page.

What we like: Fast setup that learns from existing data, flexible deployment options, simulation testing before going live, plain-English instructions instead of complex configuration.

What to consider: Not a native Gladly integration (works as an alternative or alongside via API).

2. Forethought

Forethought positions itself as the most advanced generative AI agent for customer support. The platform uses a multi-agent system that collaborates across the entire customer journey.

The product suite includes four main components:

• Solve: Omnichannel AI agent that resolves issues across chat, email, voice, and SMS
• Triage: Intelligent ticket classification, routing, and prioritization
• Assist: Real-time AI copilot for human agents with insights and response suggestions
• Discover: AI-surfaced insights that identify knowledge gaps and recommend optimizations

Forethought trains its AI on your historical tickets and help center content, which helps it deliver accurate responses from day one. The company claims up to 98% resolution rates for certain use cases and an average 15x return on investment.

Notable customers include Upwork, Grammarly, Fetch Rewards, Thumbtack, WordPress.com, and Carta. A case study with Upwork showed 50% reduction in time to resolution and 65% average self-serve rate.

Pricing:

Forethought uses an outcome-based model with platform fees plus usage-based pricing tied to deflection volume. They offer three tiers:

All plans require contacting sales for pricing. Add-ons include Assist Agent (AI Copilot), Agent QA, and Forethought for Slack.

What we like: Enterprise-grade features, comprehensive multi-agent system, strong case study results, G2 recognition for ROI and customer satisfaction.

What to consider: No transparent pricing (contact sales required), complex implementation typical of enterprise software, Proof of Value (POV) offered instead of free trial.

3. Alhena

Alhena (formerly Gleen) focuses specifically on e-commerce businesses. The platform provides hallucination-free AI agents designed to turn customer experience into revenue.

The core offering includes a Shopping Assistant that acts as a 24/7 salesperson, helping customers from product discovery through checkout. On the support side, Alhena's Customer Support Assistant auto-resolves over 80% of incoming queries with instant, on-brand answers.

Key features include:

• Conversational Search: Customers describe what they want in natural language instead of navigating filters
• Agent Assist: Real-time suggestions and context for human agents
• Voice AI: Phone automation handling 80% of queries
• Social Commerce: Integration with Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook

Alhena guarantees zero hallucinations. The AI only responds when it's confident in the answer, which keeps responses grounded in your verified content.

Case studies show impressive results. Victoria Beckham saw 20% increase in average order value. Tatcha achieved 38% AOV uplift and 11.4% revenue contribution from AI. Manawa reduced response times from 40 minutes to 1 minute with 80% of inquiries resolved by AI.

Pricing:

Overage on Pro plan costs $1.20 per conversation. Alhena offers a 25 free conversations trial to get started.

What we like: Affordable entry point, strong e-commerce focus, 48-hour go-live promise, multilingual support, transparent pricing.

What to consider: Primarily designed for e-commerce (may not suit B2B or non-retail use cases), conversation limits on lower tiers.

4. Assembled

Assembled takes a different approach by combining AI agents with workforce management. The platform manages both human agents and AI agents in a unified dashboard.

The product has three main components:

• AI Agents: Autonomous resolution across chat, email, SMS, and voice, starting at $0.65 per conversation
• AI Copilot: Real-time assistance for support agents, starting at $35 per agent per month
• Workforce Management: Scheduling, forecasting, and real-time management, starting at $25 per agent per month

What makes Assembled unique is the blended workforce approach. You can manage staffing across in-house teams, BPOs, and AI agents from one place. The platform uses machine learning for forecasting with 90%+ accuracy and provides real-time recommendations for optimizing coverage.

Notable customers include Stripe, Canva, Robinhood, HubSpot, and Autodesk. Results from these deployments include 2x faster resolution (Flexcar), $500k savings in year one (Lyra Health), 40% reduction in chat wait time (Autodesk), and 66% reduction in phone wait times (Brooks).

Pricing:

Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales.

What we like: Unique workforce management capabilities, strong customer list, proven ROI metrics, handles complex workforce scenarios.

What to consider: Complex platform with multiple products to configure, no transparent enterprise pricing, workforce management features may be overkill for small teams.

5. Gladly Sidekick

If you're already committed to Gladly, Sidekick is the native AI option. It's built directly into the platform and designed around Gladly's people-centered philosophy.

Sidekick offers three main AI features:

• AI Authoring: Helps agents draft responses, expand or shorten text, adjust tone, and fix grammar
• AI Summaries: Generates conversation summaries to reduce after-call work
• Voice Summaries: Creates text summaries of phone calls

Gladly claims Sidekick resolves 76% of conversations fully through AI. The platform also reports 3x increase in first 30-day resolution rates, 2.2x revenue per conversation, and 65% increase in CSAT for customers using their AI.

The people-centered approach means all customer interactions (email, chat, SMS, voice, social) appear in one continuous timeline. Agents see the full history instantly, so customers don't have to repeat themselves.

Limitations to consider:

• English-only support for AI features
• AI not part of routing or rules logic
• No AI-specific reporting available yet (coming soon)
• Customer profile details not considered when generating AI responses
• Requires full migration to Gladly ecosystem

Pricing:

Gladly does not publish pricing. You must book a demo to receive a custom quote based on your team size and needs.

What we like: Native integration with no additional setup, unified conversation view across all channels, people-centered approach that treats customers as individuals.

What to consider: Locked to Gladly ecosystem, limited language support, no transparent pricing, requires platform migration if you're not already using Gladly.

How to choose the right AI for your team

With these options in mind, how do you decide? Here's a simple framework.

Stick with Gladly Sidekick if: You're already using Gladly, your customers primarily speak English, and you don't need complex routing logic. The native integration is seamless, and the people-centered approach aligns well with premium brand positioning.

Consider Forethought if: You're an enterprise team with complex needs, you want a comprehensive multi-agent system, and you have the resources for a longer implementation. The 15x ROI claims are impressive, though you'll need to work with their sales team to understand pricing.

Look at Alhena if: You run an e-commerce business, you want affordable AI with transparent pricing, and you need quick time-to-value. The 48-hour go-live promise and $199 starting price make it accessible for growing brands.

Evaluate Assembled if: Workforce management is a priority, you manage a blended team of in-house and outsourced agents, and you need sophisticated forecasting. The unified approach to human and AI agents is genuinely unique.

Try eesel AI if: You want flexibility to work with your existing help desk, you prefer transparent pricing, and you value the ability to test before going live. The progressive rollout lets you start assisted and level up to full autonomy as the AI proves itself.

Key questions to ask any vendor:

• What percentage of tickets can you autonomously resolve (not just draft responses for)?
• How long does implementation typically take?
• Can I run simulations on past tickets before going live?
• What happens when the AI encounters something it can't handle?
• How do you handle pricing as my volume grows?

Getting started with AI-powered customer support

The best AI implementations follow a consistent pattern. Start with simulation. Run the AI on historical tickets to see how it would have performed. Measure resolution rates, check response quality, identify gaps in your knowledge base.

Once you're confident, deploy in assisted mode. Let the AI draft replies while humans review and send. This builds trust and helps the AI learn from corrections.

Finally, expand scope gradually. Start with simple FAQs, then add order lookups, then refunds, then complex troubleshooting. Each expansion should be based on proven performance.

If you're looking for an AI teammate that learns your business in minutes rather than weeks, try eesel AI free or book a demo to see what we can do. Our approach treats AI as a team member you hire and level up, not software you configure and hope works. Start with a simulation on your past tickets, see the results, and decide if it's right for your team. Learn more about our AI customer service solutions.